A dog taken to the Palmdale Animal Care Center as a stray on April 20 has been reunited with its owners in San Francisco thanks a microchip, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.

It turned out that Jackson, a Miniature Australian Shepherd, had been stolen from his home in San Francisco last December. His family searched for him for several months to no avail and had given up hope.

A routine scan after the dog was turned in at the Palmdale Animal Care Center revealed that he had been microchipped with traceable identification via a microchip registry.

Fortunately, the Talermo family had kept their contact information up to date.

Care Center astaff members immediately called Emilie Talermo, who at first could not believe their missing pet had been found. She thought it was a prank call.

To reassure her, staff sent her a picture of the dog, who was indeed her missing Jackson. She was overjoyed to know her dreams had come true. She told them she had been using several media outlets to bring him home. She had even created the website Bring Jackson Home and offered a $7,000 reward in an effort to locate him.

The family was surprised to learn their missing family member had made it all the way to Southern California, but very happy to know he was safe and unharmed. Fortunately, the Talermos have friends who live in the Los Angeles area. They rushed over to the Palmdale animal care center to retrieve him and then immediately drove Jackson to San Francisco for a 4 a.m. reunion with his humans.

“We hope this helps to reinforce the importance of microchipping your pet and keeping the registry information up to date,” said DACC Director Marcia Mayeda. “I am delighted to know we could be a part of this happy reunion.”

Talermo sent a photo of herself and Jackson and told us, “It was an incredible experience! Everyone was so kind and empathetic towards the situation. I wasn’t able to be there to pick him up, but my friends were raving about how sweet everyone was.”